Abstract
The objective of this work is to propose a technique for the consolidation of non-fossil bone remains from Pleistocene chronologies. These remains should not be treated like other materials traditionally addressed by the Conservation and Restoration discipline, since they are likely to contain genetic material that can provide invaluable information. For this reason, synthetic polymers of any kind should not be applied on them, since they are unusable for various analytical tests. The ideal state for their study is that of fossilization, which keeps them naturally consolidated and chemically stable, but what to do with those remains that are in a powdery state? The loss of mechanical properties that affect the bones of these chronologies is often caused by demineralization processes. Therefore, a simple way to approach this problem would be to subject them to a remineralization with a material that is chemically compatible with that of the bone itself.
In this test, we have caused remineralization by introducing Calcium Hydroxide nanoparticles that have transformed the bone composition Apatite into Hydroxyapatite, a much harder and more stable material that is the one that generally predominates in the chemical composition of fossils. . This process of “artificial fossilization” could have an immediate impact on the conservation of Pleistocene deposits. The analytics consisting of X-ray Diffractometry, Electron Spectroscopy, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) have been carried out by the Microscopy Laboratory of the Department of Geology and Geochemistry of the Autonomous University of Madrid.